Mundelein School Beating Raises Gang Fears

A Mundelein High School student was expelled this week for his role in a recent gang-related beating on the school parking lot.

School officials and law enforcement agencies said the incident should be a ``red flag,`` showing Lake County communities that gangs have extended their presence beyond Waukegan and North Chicago.

``You can be a realist or live in a fantasy world,`` said Chet Iwan, chief of criminal investigations for the Lake County Sheriff`s Police. ``The unfortunate reality is that we do have a gang problem, and, yes, we have to do something about it.``

For more than a year, he said, gangs have been a problem in Mundelein and in the Round Lake area, he said. Law enforcement officials have reports of gangs, many of them Hispanic groups, organizing and recruiting members as far north as Antioch, he said.

The Mundelein student who was expelled did not participate in the fight, but was with three alleged gang members who instigated the brawl, police said. The incident remains under investigation.

``The expulsion was because he was involved in an incident that harmed other students,`` said Supt. Linda Hanson. ``I think the message is that we have zero tolerance for that kind of behavior or action at this school.``

Mundelein High School may have four or five students who are gang members but cause no problems at the school, she said. She said other students are

``gang-member wannabes.`` Those students are responsible for problems such as fighting, graffiti and vandalism, she said.

Law enforcement officials hope to track gangs more effectively through a computer network with Cook County law enforcement agencies that is to be established by the first of the year, Iwan said.

On Tuesday night, the Mundelein High School District 120 School Board expelled the 17-year-old sophomore, a suspected gang member whom school and police declined to identify, for the remainder of the 1992-93 school year.

On Oct. 19, police said, three members of a gang from Palatine drove to Mundelein High School to collect $10 they were owed by the student.

They were in the school parking lot about 3:15 p.m. when another Mundelein High School student passed by and made some hand gestures the gang members interpreted as signs of disrespect, police said.

Two of the gang members exchanged words with that student, an 18-year-old who also was not identified. They punched the student in the face, and he fell, hitting his head on the curb.

The reputed gang members drove away, but a witness at the school noted the license plate number before they left, police said.

The victim, who suffered a concussion, was treated and released from an area hospital.

Police have made one arrest in the incident. Mario Lira, 18, of 751 Rand Grove Village in unincorporated Palatine, was charged with mob action. He was being held on $5,000 bond.

Mundelein Police Chief Raymond Rose used the incident to issue a warning. ``If we ignore what`s going on here, we`re certainly headed for trouble,`` he said. ``In my mind, a red flag has gone off over the high school incident.``

Tom Krawczak, 14, a freshman, and other students said they are not afraid of the gangs, but gang presence has become a regular topic of conversation at Mundelein High.